Breaking the rules

Chapter 19

It was a screaming match. Morana was arguing with William about a show. A show about a fictional character. This wasn’t new. It was very often about a once-a-week occurrence. It was always about a fictional character; except for this past one. The last one was about how Morana’s dad used to look like Chris Evans; that was odd.

“Morana! He’s the fucking Devil!” William decided. He was not into Lucifer Morningstar.

“And the Devil used to be God’s favorite until one mini fuck-up. My mom accepted you after your fucks up,” Morana stated. She wasn’t wrong. But the Devil? An odd choice, but so is a WW 2 hero who turned bad. She’d argue differently.

“Guys! Stop it, this does not need to be a regular thing. Morana, keep your fictional character to yourself. William, leave her alone,” I sighed. “You guys need to grow up and realize that you’re both adults with different maturity levels.”

I could feel Morana and Quinn staring at me. They had stares that could kill someone; especially Moranas stare. I feel empty when she would keep her eyes focused on me. “What’d you say, Barnes?”

“You guys are acting immature.” I crossed my arms. The stare became more intense.

“It’s a reasonable debate about Lucifer Morningstar,” Morana said. She turned back to William, who was sitting down, shaking his head. “Now, if you got something else to say, fight me.” She always resorted to violence; as if she wasn’t violent enough.

“Mor, I don’t want to fight you,” William groaned. “Why does it matter? Can we not watch a show that I want to?”

“We did that last week,” she stated.

She was right; she wanted to watch some show that William didn’t like. Morana came to the consensus of The Office. She doesn’t try to ever come to a consensus, but she did it for him. She can act fairly, but she shows everyone equal treatment.

“Yeah, but that was The Office,” he whined.

“I will punch you,” she deadpanned. Morana was stressed from today and now William was just adding more stress. “What about Suicide Squad?” She asked.

“No, those movies suck,” he complained.

Morana took in a deep breath, and she handed the remote to him. She is pissed. “Fuck around, Will. See what’ll happen.”

“Morana, it’s okay. Grab your book, and cuddle with me,” I smiled. “I wanna give you some lovin’.”

“Tell your friend that he needs to stop being so damn picky,” she sighed, grabbing her book from the coffee table. Morana plopped on the couch next to me.

“Morana, you talking shit?” William asked. “I will fuck your world up, Mor.”

“Try me, bitch,” she sighed. As she looked down at her book, William threw the remote at her. It wasn’t a soft throw either. The remote hit her in the nose and the mouth. She yelped and looked up. “Mother fucker! William, I will beat the living shit out of right about now.” She threw a fist at him and missed.

He caught her fist, and she tried to pull away. “Morana, I don’t want to fight,” he whispered. “Let’s see the damage.”

“Awww, how sweet,” Quinn cheered. “William, you owe her a Funko Pop.”

He removed her hand from covering her face. I didn’t need to see her face to see that she was bleeding. She had blood all over her hands. I looked at her face and both her mouth and nose were bleeding.

My jaw dropped. She never bled from there. “Bucky makes me vulnerable.”

“I swear to god Morana,” Quinn groaned.

“Baby, you’re bleeding, like a lot,” I pointed out.

“I’ve bled more,” she laughed. “It’s called a period.”

“Get over the kitchen sink now,” I groaned. She waddle away and William was just standing there. “If you ever hurt Morana again, I will tear you apart.” I followed Morana, and she was woozy.

“Bucky, I’m bleeding a lot,” she stated.

“I know, love.” I grabbed the first aid kit and made it back to her. “You need to stop being so reckless, Mor. I don’t like driving to the hospital, especially when it comes to you. I’m about to wrap you in bubble wrap if you get hurt again before our wedding.”

She laughed. “Well, the hospital isn’t as bad. They like me.” She stopped laughing while I tried to get the bleeding to stop. “Buck, I don’t want you to worry about me.”

“Well, you’re reckless, and sometimes it’s fun, but right now it has you bleeding in the sink. Now stop stalking so I can shove this makeshift tampon in your nose,” I made myself laugh.

Morana taught me the first uses of menstrual products and she showed me a paper she wrote about contraceptives that grossed out her high school Biology teacher.

Her blood was dripping onto me, and I shook it off. I could clean it with some hydrogen peroxide or let it soak in warm water.

She looked up at me and it reminded me of when I first helped her clean herself up.

“I was calling for you, but nothing, no letter, no text, not a single damn thing, Barnes. I was here injured, with no one home to help. I am struggling to walk right now because I don’t know why. So for one fucking minute, help, because, James, I need fucking help.” Her voice cracked. I was hurt. It felt like I was pinning things to be her fault.

I’m never going to forget the words exchanged. John pistol-whipped her, and I raised my voice at her. I used to think that she would never bleed, that she was immortal, but she’s almost died in my arms. I won’t forgive myself. I knew Billy was crazy, but then again, I stayed blind to his actions.

“Are you going to forgive William?” she asked, dragging me out of my thoughts.

“Not yet, not until he realizes that you’re not immortal,” I smiled.

“I’m immortal until I die,” she stated.

“That better not be anytime soon, Draga mea,” I kissed her forehead.